Ham was born in [[Balham]], South London. RodHe was the son of Bob Ham, a salesman, and Rea (nee Mathieson-Macbeth).<ref name=guardian>{{cite newspaper|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/mar/02/roderick-ham-obituary|title=Roderick Ham obituary|author=Foster. T|newspaper=The Guardian|date=March 2017}}</ref>
In World War II, he served in the British Army, joining straight from school and rising to Secondsecond Lieutenantlieutenant.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37134/supplement/3173/data.pdf |format=PDF |title=Supplement to the London Gazette |date=19 June 1945 |page=3173 |website=Thegazette.co.uk |accessdate=2016-12-14}}</ref>
==Career==
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In 1954 he set up his own practice, and due to his love of amateur dramatics, decided to concentrate on theatre design.<ref name=guardian/> His early work included alterations to the Festival theatre in Battersea Park and additions to the Royal Court. His first major project was designing, with George Finch, the [[Thorndike Theatre]] in [[Leatherhead]] within the shell of the disused 1930s Crescent Cinema, which opened in 1969.<ref name="c20society1"/><ref name="Fair2016" /> The building is now Grade II listed<ref name=guardian/> and won both a [[Royal Institute of British Architects|RIBA Award]] and a building for the disabled award in 1970.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8BhVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Roderick+Ham%22+friba&dq=%22Roderick+Ham%22+friba&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt-YXB9u3zAhUN3qQKHWFgCQA4ChDoAXoECAUQAw|title=Britain|author=Peter Murray, Stephen Trombley|date=1990|page=126}}</ref>
Ham would go onto designdesigned the [[Derby Playhouse]] with George Finch, which opened in 1975,<ref name="Fair2016">{{cite book|author=Alistair Fair|title=Setting the Scene: Perspectives on Twentieth-Century Theatre Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iU2rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|date=3 March 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-05692-8|page=20}}</ref> and the [[New Wolsey Theatre]] in [[Ipswich]], which was built from 1977 to 1979, followed by the Sackville theatre at Sevenoaks school in Kent, in 1981.<ref name=guardian/>
In 1961, Ham was one of the founding members of the [[Association of British Theatre Technicians]] and would go onto bewas elected a Fellow in 2012.<ref name=guardian/> With Peter Moro, Hamhe produced a series of information sheets on aspects of theatre design that were published by the Architects’''Architects' Journal''. Ham would go onto developdeveloped this work into his 1972 book "''Theatre Planning"'',<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6YdUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Roderick+Ham%22+friba&dq=%22Roderick+Ham%22+friba&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2wJPi9-3zAhXNyKQKHWA8ASs4FBDoAXoECAQQAw|title=Theatre Planning|journal=Built Environment|volume=2|date=1973|page=35}}</ref> and his 1987 publication "''Theatres: Planning Guidance for Design and Adaptation"''. He was elected Master of the [[Art Workers' Guild]] in 1989.<ref name=guardian/>
